Enchanted - 75%

I am enchanted by this silly fairy tale in a modern world love story. Although nothing in this movie make much sense, it gives some hope to this divorce-stricken world with it's whacky fairy tale concept of love.

A mixture of Bollywood, Snow White/Cinderella, Roger Rabbit, King Kong, Adam Sandler's kind of silly love movie, this show truly packs some good humour...

If you have read my blogs often, you'd see I am not a fan of love stories, especially not love comedies... but this one is pretty creative and worth watching.

(Source: http://www.imdb.com)

Kingdom-80%

I like this show because I felt scared. I mean this show actually brings out the fear, the anxiousness, the agony of losing a love one brutally, of the people who lived in the middle east during the war. It has lots of gun fire and bombings but don't expect action pack from starting till the end as it's a little bit prone to drama side.

Nevertheless, this show is an eye opener for me as it shows the feelings of both parties in the war... i.e. it's not lob-sided as to who is right and who is wrong in a war. And it teaches us not to stereotype - the same team of people can have good and bad nuts, so we shouldn't generalise that all the people in the team is bad if one is caught to be a bad nut.

Worth watching, just to experience it....

Source: http://www.imdb.com

Stardust - 75%

Haven't seen such an enjoyable semi fairy tale love story, semi fantasy adventure kinda movie in a long time, so it's a welcome change for me.

Like it very much... especially the meaningful concept of love...

Source: http://www.imdb.com

Beowulf - Temptation is the curse (80%~B+)

Not sure how to rate this movie. It’s done a very good job in surprising me with new techniques in cinematography, but I just cant help but think I am watching Shrek. Anyhow, this movie must be watched in the theaters or it’ll lose its novelty. I have just given the outline in order not to spoil the surprise and special effects… (Note that I have changed my rating method to be based on percentage for easier reference.)

Storyboard (25 of 25):
Very good plot. Based on an ancient Anglo-Saxon (AD700) heroic epic poem by an anonymous author, this story goes about weaving stories of demons and monsters, both real and nightmares that haunts the consciences of Kings of the olden days. A very violent yet enlightening movie that touches the hearts of people who greeds fame, power and wealth. It’s a reminder to those who are currently on their journey seeking for these elements, as these are the people who will easily and unwittingly fall into the traps of evil dark demonic forces – traps which are set by their very own seeds, seeds which were sowed by their very own hands.

Story is set in a small kingdom in Denmark, just a few hundred years After Christ, when modern civilization just started to bloom and folklore and witchcraft was still largely practiced and believed. The royal family (King Hrothgar and Queen Wealthow) and their people are plague by occasional violent monster attacks by a troll called Grendel who launches attacks every time the human celebrates. Beowulf, a great Geat (Scandinavian) warrior, decided to take up King Hrothgar's challenge to defeat Grendel in the name of glory. In those days, peoples’ lives become meaningful if their deaths are talked about in stories and poems for generations and across nations. As such, everyone fights hard to die gloriously in battle. And the person who can stay alive after many victorious battles with both mortals and demons will be honored as King. In his quest to eliminate Grendel, Beowulf finds himself entangled in a demonic curse; cast by Grendel’s evil but seductive mother, which have sentenced many Kings and their Kingdoms into great misery.

Cinematography (15 of 25):
This movie uses a new filming technique, called motion capture. As such, the computer generated imagery (CGI) was good, but too much for me. Director Robert Zemeckis couldn’t have made this movie with all its stunts without CGI but too much of it just leave a bland aftertaste. My logical mind kept telling me that it isn’t real. I mean, I can watch a real person do weird stunts with CGI and still believe they are doable as I am seeing the real person doing it with my own eyes . However, seeing an animated character doing it, no matter how real, just doesn’t cut it to make it believable! Although the animation was really, really good, I don’t think this movie can win awards in the normal category. Maybe the best animated movie category.

Issues (20 of 25):
This ancient tale addresses most of the crossroads we encounter in life.
1) Love
2) Courage
3) Loyalty
4) Betrayal
5) Religion
6) Honesty
7) Greed
8) Disillusion

Casting (20 of 25):
Good casting as it uses the right people for the right characters. Angelina Jolie fits perfectly as the temptress witch mother with her irresistible beauty and seductive voice. Anthony Hopkins plays the mighty but drunk King Hrothgar very well. Robin Wright Penn character displayed the inner sorrows very well through her eyes. Ray Winstone was casted for the Beowulf character because of his outstanding performance in television as King Henry VIII.

Overall Score: 80 B+

A 81-100 Highly recommended, must go to Theaters
B 61-80 Recommended Watch
C 41-60 Give it a try
D 21-40 Wait for the DVD
E 0-20 You can give this a miss

Note: all pictures are sourced from http://www.imdb.com

Babel: If you want to be understood... Listen

An interesting movie where 4 stories are cleverly interweaved into one big movie. You will have to watch this movie to see how a rich troubled American couple who are having a holiday in Morocco can be linked to a shepherd and his 2 sons, and also connected to a Mexican lady who is working as a live-in maid in America for 16 years but had to attend her son's wedding in Mexico for just 1 day. And somehow these 2 persons' stories are linked all the way to Japan, to a troubled Japanese deaf-mute teenager who cannot cope with the lost of her mother and her adolescence problems.

The writer Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro González Iñárritu have cleverly included all the ingredients to make a great movie:

a) Famous actors: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett

b) Location, location, location: There are people and stories from countries spanding across 4 continents, Asia, Africa, and North and South America

c) Storyline that deals with various world issues such as:

1. Terrorism (there's a scene I like where Brad Pitt gave money to a Moroccan for helping and the Moroccan refused. Brad Pitt was truly touched by this Moroccan stranger who helped him unconditionally while his American compatriates have left him and his wife to fend for themselves. In this terrorist and war-torn world which have inevitably changed our perception on strangers causing stereotyping and suspicion, this movie tends to help put things back to perspective.)


2. Family issues (Brad Pitt and wife were having a difficult time in their marriage after the death of their young child but things are put into perspective when the wife is facing a near death situation.)


3. Maid issues (Rich couples put their child care entirely into the hands of maids which can be dangerous sometimes irregardless of how much the maid loves the kids)


4. Guns (Nowadays, guns are easily available and thus, irresponsible or uneducated usage of these powerful weapons can lead to deadly consequences)


5. Single parent/Lost of parent problems (Single parents must try to listen to their children and vice versa as both are trying hard to cope with their individual problems)


6. Adolescence problems (this show highlights the many teenage problems such as drugs, alcohol, sex, rejection, generation gaps, self-consciousness etc).


7. Handicap (this movie touches on how a deaf-mute cope with everday life)

d) A naked japanese girl. (need I say more? haha)

Actually, I like these kind of movies which tend to create awareness on various issues in life. It gives us a different perspective on how connected we all are as we watch all these somewhat random people in the world but yet somehow all connected to each other.

I'd rate this movie an A-, given the good cinematography and the whole story telling and connection is so seamlessly done.

Picture Source: http://www.imdb.com

28 Weeks Later And Resident Evil 3: Extinction

Never had been a fan of zombie movies. (I think I mentioned that when I wrote about Resident Evil 2: The Apocalypse) . However, here are 2 zombie movies which I managed to sit through the entire show without cursing or falling asleep.

Resident Evil 3: Extinction

Well, this year there's just so many sequels to a sequel that you have to get used to it. I have to say that this episode (it has turned into a series I suppose...) is better than its predecessor. The fighting scenes are superbed and of course the body counts are aplenty and they didn't censor the dreadful bloody scenes in the theaters so please don't bring children.

The CGI used are really good to support the storyline which is adapted from a computer game (Capcom's Resident Evil). Basically, the story talks about a group of evil scientists and opportunist who tries to genetically alter the genes of a human being to create a superior species and eliminate the others weaker ones. Don't try to decipher deeply into the movie as the bottomline of any zombie movie is that this is a dog-eat-dog or human-eat-human world and we've gotta stay tough and kill the rest to survive.

Usually in zombie movies, we don't even want to talk about casting.... but this one has Milla Jovovich as Alice the main character. Also, this chapter offers a bonus: Ali Carter (of Heroes fame) as a strong supporting actress. After watching this show, you cant help but feel some "Girl Power".

Overall, I'd give this show a B, mostly for the body counts (and stunts) and good cinematography on the fighting scenes. Milla Jovovich is of course a plus point.

28 Weeks Later

Another Girl power movie whereby the lead is an actress, Catherine McCormack, and the child actress Amanda Walker, are very much the heroins of the movie.

Movie is about a virus epidemic which spread all over UK and caused everyone to turn into zombies.

As any zombie movie goes, it doesn't really make much sense but it makes good entertainment. Lots of body counts and gory, bloody scenes - just the kind of movie a zombie-movie lover would love to watch.

Would give it a C, as it's already a B movie to start with.

Note: Pictures Source: http://www.imdb.com

Death Proof

Finally watched Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino.

Quentin is definitely an extraordinary director/filmmaker. He can see things through his camera which is different from others and he tries to make us see those special angles which we seldom see on the big screen. As this is his tribute to the 70s B-grade Grindhouse movie, he started the show with lots of psychedelics and corresponding 70s large fonts and 70s “High Chaperal” type of music. I like those scratches that he made purposely to make it look like a film, or something you get to watch at a ‘Drive-In’ theater. I also like the way he shows us the vast difference if he showed us the film in black & white and then in color.

There are some “out of your imagination” action, so please ask your children to steer clear of this movie. You can be sure Quetins show has lots of blood and body count. Well, this one won’t fail you.

There are no real moral in this movie but the storyline is ok for a B grade movie. Kurt Russell definitely made this movie a little more interesting with his witty pick up lines…

Pity the version I watched doesn’t comes with Planet Terror, else I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I would rate it B+ for overall content, directorship, castings etc……

Oh, and btw, the name of the show is such because the car driven by Kurt Russell (Stuntman Mike) is death proof... i.e. the car was used for stunts and thus is built to keep whoever in the car safe (from death).... And guess what, the car is a dear old Chevrolet.. :) a 1970 Chevy Nova... :) Chevrolets are featured in many movies lately, Transformers, Wild Hogs, and now Death Proof.. :)